Tuesday, November 6, 2012

A Camel Called Electoral College

There's
an old saying that a camel is a horse designed by a committee.

The
framers of the Constitution were forced to compromise when it came time to
define the presidential election process. Some legislators wanted the president
to be elected by a purely popular vote of the people and others, not trusting
the people to make the correct decision, wanted Congress to elect the
president. So, as politicians often do, they compromised and created the
Electoral College.

In
essence, they created a camel.

According
to Article III, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the populace doesn't really
vote for a candidate, it votes for an elector. Electors are nominated by their
state political party (usually a committee). The number of electors for each
state is equal to the number of U.S.
Senators (2 per state) and U.S.
Congressmen (based upon state population) representing each state. Once the
electors have been determined, each elector then casts the "official"
vote for a candidate.

Most
of the time the electors cast their votes for the candidate who received the
most votes in their state but they're not legally bound to do so.

There
are 538 electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 to win the election. If no
candidate receives 270 votes, the president is elected by the House of
Representatives whereby each state is allowed only one vote, which means that Rhode Island and California have just one
vote each.

This
is one ugly camel.

There
have been four elections where the candidate who had the most popular votes
didn't win the election.

1)
In 1824, Andrew Jackson had 38,000 more popular votes than John Quincy Adams
but neither had a majority in the Electoral College. The House of
Representatives elected Adams.

2)
In 1896, Samuel Tilden beat Rutherford B. Hayes by 264,000 votes but Hayes
carried five out of the six smallest states to win the Electoral College
outcome by one vote.

3)
In 1888, Grover Cleveland beat Benjamin Harrison by 95,713 votes but won the
Electoral College by 65 votes to win the presidency.

4)
In 2000, Al Gore received over 500,000 more votes than George W. Bush but Bush
had a total of 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266.

Basically,
the Electoral College is a weighted system designed to give heavily populated
states more power in elections yet allowing small states to swing an election,
thereby giving them a certain amount of clout as well.

Whether this concept works well is subject to
debate. In a recent survey, over two-thirds of Americans wanted to do away with
the system and rely strictly on a popular vote. However, that might be easier
said than done. Amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both houses
of Congress.

Unfortunately,
many federal lawmakers are reluctant to tamper with the Constitution because
they're afraid it will open a whole new can of worms. They're worried that
making any changes to the Constitution would open the door for additional
changes and don't want to mess with it.

Eliminating
the Electoral College would also allow the emergence of additional political alternatives,
eroding the influence of the two major political parties. Winning the presidency
by popular vote would require a majority (50%) of the vote. Thus many
candidates could run for the office and become potential spoilers. The two
major candidates would possibly be forced to give some concessions to minority
parties to gain their support. But as is true with human nature, especially with
politicians, those in power don't want to give up their power.

The
Electoral College is a camel bequeathed to us by our founding fathers. The
framers of the Constitution were very wise men but this is a new era of
communications and technology.

However,
what worked in 1776 may not be the most desirable option in the 21st century. It's
time for government to catch up with the rest of us.

If
we really need a camel, we can always ship one in from Baghdad.

___________

Quote for the Day -- "Nothing is more unreliable than the
populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive
than the whole electoral system." Marcus Tullius Cicero

___________

Bret Burquest is the author of 9 books, including THE REALITY OF
THE ILLUSION OF REALITY and 11:11 EARTH TIME (available on Amazon). He lives in
the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where horses designed by
committee are called mules.

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About Me

Computer Programmer (1972-2002), College Instructor (2001-2006), Newspaper Columnist (2001-2007). Author of 12 books, including ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS, PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY, 11:11 EARTH TIME and BRAIN BLOSSOMS. He lives in the Ozark Mountains, where he writes stuff and talks to trees.